CIFA Annual Review 2020

Cyprus Investment Funds Association (CIFA)
Annual Review 2020 31
Tax
Committee
Chairperson:
Neofytos
Neofytou
During 2020, the Tax Committee has concentrated its efforts on promoting changes in the
existing tax legislation, which will make the establishment of funds in Cyprus more attractive.
In the course of these efforts, the Chairman and members of the Tax Committee attended
meetings with the Tax Commissioner and other tax officials and meetings of the CIFA Board of
Directors and has been in liaison with the Tax Committee of ICPAC.
After a series of Tax Committee meetings, in December 2020 the Tax Committee has presented
to the Board of Directors of CIFA its proposals for the respective changes in the tax legislation,
which cover issues relating to the deemed distribution rules and the introduction of a levy based
on the Net Asset Value (“NAV”) of funds, instead of corporation tax. Once these proposals are
accepted by the Board of Directors, these proposals will be forwarded to the Ministry of Finance
and the Tax Commissioner for further discussions.
Statistics
and Fund
Research
Committee
Chairperson:
George Martides
Since its establishment, the CIFA Statistics and Fund Research Committee has been working
diligently on the following:
• Establishing smooth and efficient channels of communication with the relevant
regulatory authorities – specifically the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission
(CySEC) and the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) – so as to ensure the availability
of data required for both internal reporting and reporting to EFAMA;
• Collecting and analysing data on local UCITS and non-UCITS
(the latter including AIFs, AIFLNPs and RAIFs); and
• Any ad-hoc request for statistical data about the fund industry in Cyprus.
During 2020, two additional members joined the Committee to assist the Committee’s efforts in
meeting the growing demand for statistical data.
The most important achievements of our Committee during 2020 were the listing of funds
on the Refinitiv Platform (ex-Thomson Reuters), which is visible to more than 20,000 global asset
managers and related professionals, as well as on the Bloomberg Terminal.
Similar to previous years, in 2020 we provided EFAMA with monthly and quarterly statistics
of Cyprus authorised and registered funds including net assets, net sales and number of funds. In
addition, we received a number of ad-hoc requests from EFAMA such as the preparation of AuM
of Cyprus funds and the preparation of the Cyprus Country report.
The Statistics and Fund Research Committee submitted to IIFA (CIFA has been a member of
IIFA since 2019) several information and statistical analyses about the fund industry in Cyprus,
that was requested by IIFA.
During 2020, we also got involved in discussions with MorningStar with the prospect of
making Cyprus funds eligible to be listed on the MorningStar Platform. Morningstar is considered
quite influential in the investment management industry and its ratings and recommendations
often drive billions of dollars into or away from a fund.
The discussions with MorningStar are expected to continue in 2021 where further statistical
information needs to be prepared and presented to MorningStar representatives by the Statistics
and Fund Research Committee. In addition, the Committee will continue to prepare the statistics
for the Cyprus funds for submission to EFAMA and IIFA on a monthly, quarterly and on an annual
basis. As the Cyprus funds industry grows, the Committee expects that new professionals will need
to join the Committee and provide their experience and knowledge to meet the requirements of
the various authorities.